Guidance Manual on Community-Based Fisheries and Watershed Management
Overview
In order to facilitate the integration of community groups into the fisheries management programs, the Foundation intends to develop a Guidance Manual on Community-Based Fisheries Management. The Guidance Manual will provide community groups, First Nations, and other non-governmental organizations in British Columbia with step-by-step guidance on the implementation of ecosystem-based fisheries and watershed management. It will be developed using the recommendations provided by more than 1000 participants of the Toward Sustainable Fisheries Conference and four other multi-stakeholder meetings. Importantly, the Guidance Manual will provide community-based organizations with a template for integrating the needs of ‘communities-of-place’ (e.g., Tofino) and ‘communities-of-interest’ (e.g., BCMOE, UBC, Steelhead Society) into a framework for supporting sustainable fisheries and watershed management. The cooperative fisheries and watershed plans that are developed using the information provided in the Guidance Manual will facilitate the protection of healthy salmonid populations and the restoration of salmonid populations at risk. In this way, the Guidance Manual will help support the transition to sustainable fisheries and watershed management.
The Guidance Manual will consist of several elements, including a brief introduction which sets the stage for sustainable fisheries management and a background which identifies the challenges to Pacific salmon and steelhead management (i.e., habitat loss and degradation, overfishing, etc.). In addition, the Guidance Manual will include principles for sustainable fisheries management, an approach to ecosystem-based watershed management, and an overview of the Sustainable Fisheries Strategy (SFS) developed from the multi-stakeholder meetings. It will also include a framework for community-based fisheries and watershed management. This framework will describe how to develop a shared vision for the future, to determine the primary factors constraining progress towards sustainable fisheries, to identify indicators of progress towards sustainable fisheries and watershed management, and to develop a focussed plan of action that includes the priority activities that will contribute directly to fulfillment of the long-term vision for the future.
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